Maidenhead & Windsor

The consultation on the future of Maidenhead town centre is entering its final stages and the Royal Borough is issuing a reminder call to everyone who hasn't yet taken part.

The closing date for responses is Monday February 26 and copies of the consultation leaflet and questionnaire are still available from local libraries in Maidenhead, Cookham and Cox Green and from the customer service centre in the Town Hall.

The consultation is also open online at the council's website www.rbwm.gov.uk

Maidenhead Town Centre: Towards 2026 brings together the Royal Borough's ideas for the town centre along with those of local organisations, such as Maidenhead Civic Society and Maidenhead Chamber of Commerce and those expressed through The Great Debate run by the Maidenhead Advertiser last year.

Launched at the start of the year, it has attracted huge interest across the community. The council has held a number of successful workshop sessions with local community organisations, councillors, landowners and residents to ensure their views are taken into account. A Saturday drop-in session was also held in the Town Hall so that local people could call and take a look at the proposals.

All views will be taken into account in the next stages of the Maidenhead document, which will feed into the Local Development Framework (LDF) for the borough.

Cllr Vicky Howes, lead member for strategic planning, said: "Revitalising Maidenhead came out as a top priority in last year's public consultation on the new LDF and the council has now brought together ideas from a wide range of organisations, together with our own, so we can find a way forward for the town that can be broadly supported by everyone. The initial response has been very encouraging and the signs are good that we will have a strong partnership basis for the future."

Cllr Simon Werner, lead member for Maidenhead, said: "The responses to the consultation will be a huge help in giving us a clear vision for the future. We need to take bold steps if we are to have an achievable way ahead and I am confident that, with the help of our local community, we are on the right track to make our good town even better."

The Maidenhead discussion document and questionnaire was circulated to more than 20,000 people through the Maidenhead Advertiser on Thursday January 18. It focuses on key areas for debate:

# three possible areas for more shops at West Street, Broadway and the east end of High Street, linking to today's main shopping area

# two places pivotal to the daily life and image of the town centre – improving the station area with more parking and a better transport interchange, and upgrading the approaches to Maidenhead Bridge to create a tree-lined boulevard and potential for a new hotel or houses

# opportunities around York Road and St Ives Road to enable these central areas to be used more effectively, with car parking, new homes and offices and more public spaces, linking to the Green Way.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead